Baby Steps

me at 9 months pregnant (with a lot of weight to lose!)
Dieting has always been something I have had to conscious of, but unfortunately I have tended to be a bit bipolar with it. My trend has been to be really good and watch what I eat and drink religiously until I inevitably get sick of the whole thing and devour every nacho, ice cream cone, and french fry in sight for the next few months. Then, I'm heavier than I want/need to be, and the cycle begins again. You get the idea...its not pretty!

Enter summer 2009: I had decided I was going to relax, enjoy myself, and let my weight do as it would. I am a teacher, so summer means time off, which in my world, translates to the potential to indulge in adult beverages nightly, and summer 2009 was proceeding in that vein. I was having a GREAT summer, and my weight was creeping up accordingly. No problem, though, I thought, I'll just lose it come September when school and my scheduled life begins again.

Someone had other plans, though, because on July 29th of that fateful summer, I found out I was pregnant. At the time, I was a good 10 pounds above the weight I usually maintain which is about 10 pounds above the weight I SHOULD probably maintain. And now, I was going to pack on 30, maybe 40, maybe more pounds....AAAAAHHHHH!

So, I decided to do what any logical person would do...I decided to eat absolutely anything I wanted to during the course of my pregnancy. Spoonfuls of peanut butter with a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top were my new best friend just to give you an idea of the level of indulgence we are talking about. Now you're probably thinking, obviously no doctor would allow this degree of glutony, but for some reason, mine really never said much. You're also probably worried about how horribly irresponsible this was, but I had a different logic. I figured I would indulge over the next 10 months, so that when baboo finally did appear and I was ready to lose the weight, there would be nothing I felt like I was missing.

Amazingly, the logic seems to have worked. I did indeed pack on the pounds during my pregnancy (roughly 40 to be exact), but since Colton has arrived, I have been dilligent about working out and eating well. I have now dropped 45 pounds, but find myself stuck once again. Dieting has lost its allure, partly because I no longer look quite so swollen therefore it is not necessarily as pressing. Still, as the scale has not budged quite as much in recent weeks, I have grown frustrated.

And then today, I had a victory, a reminder of just how much progress I have made, evidence that all my hard work has/is paying off. With school starting in just a few days, it was time to try on my collection of summery work clothes. Last time I wore these things, I wasn't even pregnant yet (ok maybe I technically was, but I didn't know) and they were TIGHT. Guess what?!? Today they fit, and not only did they fit, they actually were almost loose!

Today taught me a lesson and helped me embrace a new outlook on weight loss. Weight loss is certainly a marathon, and not a sprint. In order to maintain it, there will probably be days that look like setbacks, but as long as that recommitment is made, results WILL come in time.

Thoughts?